THE MAGIK WAY — Materia Occulta 1997-1999 (review)

THE MAGIK WAY — Materia Occulta 1997-1999 album cover Boxset / Compilation · 2013 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Time Signature
Occult material...

Genre: black metal / dark ambient

Materia Occulta 1997-1999 is a bit of a strange release, as it represents two very different phases in the creative history of the Italian cult (and, here, you may interepret "cult" literally) band The Magik Way. As the title indicate, the two eras are 1997 and 1999 respectively – only two years of difference in terms of chonology, but millions of years of difference in terms of music.

The first four tracks form a suite of sorts and are from 1997. The musical style here is perhaps best described as "occult black metal". The anchor of music aesthetics is lodged in the black metal with all the chaotic elements it entails genre, but, drawing on keyboards and various other effects, The Magik Way add an atmosphere which is sometimes errie and creepy, and at other times epic. The constant in terms of atmosphere, however, is darkness.

And darkness is just about the only thing tht these four tracks have in common with the rest of the album, which consists of songs from 1999. In a radical change in style, the rest of the album falls under the rubric of dark ambient. With no metal whatsoever, these tracks are highly atmosperic and ambient and range from dark soundscapes to pieces with more musical substance and melody to them.

Interestingly 'La Conoscenza' does seem – whether by design or by accident – to form a kind of link between the two parts of this release, as it contains a longer passage of dark and melancholic ambience, juxtaposed with heavier and more metallic parts. For my money, the four black metal tracks constitute the attraction point of the release. While definitely interesting, the rest of the album just does not appeal to me to the same extent – probably because, following four quite intense black metal tracks, they kind of fall flat.

Facing the risk of appealing to two quite different crowds of music fans, this release nonetheless excells as a work of dark music art, and if you happen to like both dark ambient and black metal, then you might just want to give it a listen.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rise of the Black Fang Metalcore
KILLGRAVE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Die for Us Technical Death Metal
WEREWOLVES
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

ScapeGoat Official Lyric Video
FIREFLAME
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
FireFlame - The Last Ride (Official Video)
FIREFLAME
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
Fervence - Hezekiah (Official Music Video)
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
Fervence - The Silent Wall
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
Fervence - Corrosion (Visualizer)
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed